Loser
by Jimmy Collins
Summary: Danny has a conversation with the Ghost Gabber. Don't ask. Takes place during My Brother's Keeper. Oneshot.


"Argh!"

Danny Fenton, secret ghost kid, geek, freak, and loser extraordinaire, hurled his pencil at the wall. It broke, leaving an ugly black graphite mark on the wall. Not that Danny even knew what graphite was.

Not that he knew what _anything_ was.

He glared at the mark. Ordinarily, he would have worried that his parents would wonder about the mark, but given the oddities of his family, and of him, the entire house was more or less one enormous scorch mark. A few black scratches here or there wouldn't make much of a difference.

No, Dad wasn't the most observant person in the world, Danny reflected bitterly. Mom was usually busy working with Dad, working on the best way to dissect their son. And Jazz...

At the thought of his sister, Danny pounded his desk in frustration. His fist left a small scorch-mark, and had he been less angry, he would have thought that rather cool. Right now, though...

"Aaaargh!"

"_mmrhphhngrycrhssink... feefee." _

Danny blinked. "Huh?" he asked. The sound had come from under one of the piles of laundry.

"_hrtimmnish... feefee"_

He hadn't anything better to do. Danny walked over and dug around in the pile, ignoring the smell of week-old socks. That was another thing - _Jazz _wasn't messy like he was. _Jazz _kept her room neat and...

His hand hit a hard metal surface, which he withdrew. "Huh?"

"What is the Fenton Gabber doing in my laundry? Fear me."

Danny blinked.

Suddenly, the absurdity of the entire situation hit him. He was sitting in his room, alone, crying like a _baby _over what an absolute _loser_ he was, and somehow the Fenton Gabber had made its way into the bottom of his laundry pile. He didn't even know how it'd gotten there.

There was really only one thing to do. He laughed.

The little meter on the display filled up, and a message flashed across the screen: WARNING: UNABLE TO DECIPHER GHOST-NOISE. JACK FENTON ROCKS.

He laughed harder. Danny laughed and laughed and laughed at his parents, at himself, at his day, at anything and everything. He laughed until he cried.

He lay on the bed, hugging the piece of eccentric equipment to his chest as if it were his version of Bearbert, his sticky tears soaking into the bedspread.

The last hiccupping sobs died away and he cradled the device against his chest, staring dully at the wall.

"It isn't fair," the little device intoned softly. "Fear me."

Danny rolled onto his back. "Why," he whispered.

"I don't know why," it said flatly. "Fear me."

The raven-haired teen swallowed noisily. "I try," he said softly, "so, so hard. Every day, I try."

"I help people. Fear me."

There was a pause.

"Mom and Dad want to hunt me," he said.

There was a slight whirring from the device, and a click. "Ha-Ha," Jack Fenton's voice blared over the tinny speakers. "That piece of ectoplasmic scum knows what's good for it!"

Danny laughed once, but there wasn't any mirth in it. "Maybe they're right."

"Perhaps all ghosts are evil. Fear me."

He rolled over, supporting his head with his hand. "But I'm not a ghost," he said. "I'm still alive."

"I am a freak," the Gabber said, inflectionless. "Fear me."

Unexpectedly, Danny's eyes stung. "Fear me," he repeated.

"I don't want to be evil," the Gabber began, and Danny sat up sharply, cutting it off.

"I _don't," _he said vehemently.

"I want to do good," said the Gabber.

"Yeah," Danny said, his voice stronger. He bit his lip. "But..."

"But every time I try," the Fenton Ghost Gabber said softly, "I mess up somehow. Fear me."

Suddenly exhausted, he rolled back over to his side. "I just wanted to help people. Save lives. Stop ghosts."

The Gabber beeped for a moment. "I am a ghost," it informed him. "But I wanted to be different. I thought I had these powers for a reason."

"But..."

"Which is worse," it continued regardless, "a monster, or an ineffective monster? Does it matter what you are, so long as your actions speak for themselves?"

"I..."

"You're a loser, but that's not going to stop you. You keep fighting the good fight, even if it's hopeless, because you're too scared to sit inside and listen to yourself... lose."

"What?" Danny stared at the little device in shock. It was glowing, an extension of his own ectoplasmic energy permeating the device.

"This was never about being the hero. Right now you've got two choices. You can either go out there and lose, or you can sit in here and think about losing. It's that shrink - you know it has been all along. She's so good at picking at you and picking at you that you're doing her job for her. You've got to decide... which is worse?"

"Shut up!" Danny withdrew his hand hurriedly from the box, but the glow remained, fading slowly.

"You _are _a loser," it told him. "You try and you try, and you never win. Danny Phantom saves the day, and Dash lets Fenton taste the asphalt. Or Fenton finishes his homework in math class, and Phantom is fired upon by his own father. There's really only one way you can be more of a loser: give up."

"I'm _not_ giving up," cried Danny.

"You're giving up and don't want to admit it," said the Gabber.

"I'm just trying not to make things worse," he protested.

"You're afraid that if you try you'll lose more than you already have. F-f-f-f-f..."

Danny opened his mouth, ready for another angry retort, but the last few words registered. "Ha," he said mirthlessly. "What I've lost."

"Y-y-y-I've already lost everything that matters to me," said the Gabber, switching back to first person. "Fear me."

Suddenly, the door opened. Danny gasped, feeling inexplicably guilty. He turned around slowly.

"Danny?" It was Jazz. "Are you okay?"

Danny's eyes narrowed. "Yeah, I'm fine. Just the usual, you know. Giving up, being a loser, that sort of thing." He shut Jazz out firmly, and punched the lock.

"I g-g-give up-am going back," the Gabber stuttered. "Fear me."

Danny smiled grimly, a flash of something otherworldly in his eyes. "Fear me."

* * *

**A/N: This was a triumph. I'm making a note here: huge success... okay, reference aside, I'm still alive. You can thank my flatmate for introducing me to the world of DANNY PHANTOM and old cartoons. **

**In case you hadn't noticed, this takes place during My Brother's Keeper, at some indeterminate point. I'm also not sure how Danny turned into a Knight in Sour Armour at any point, but it sort of happened that way, and I can't say I dislike it. Anyways, there you go. **


End file.
